Chapter 6 - The Paternity Result
Delilah’s pregnancy became public before any test occurred.
Photographs from the funeral spread across news sites and gossip accounts. Commentators discussed the white dress, the announcement, and the projector presentation. Most treated the situation as entertainment.
I refused interviews.
Delilah did not.
She appeared in a paid online interview and described herself as a woman fighting for recognition. She said Adrian promised marriage, claimed I had emotionally abandoned him, and accused me of using wealth and technology to destroy a vulnerable pregnant woman.
Some people believed her.
That was painful but unsurprising. Public stories reward certainty, and Delilah spoke with more confidence than truth.
Bennett remained silent until Adrian’s attorney demanded a paternity test.
Then Bennett requested separate counsel.
The test was conducted privately under legal supervision.
The result identified Bennett as the biological father.
Adrian learned during a meeting at Naomi’s office because his attorney insisted neutral witnesses should be present.
He read the report once.
Then again.
His face remained still for almost a minute.
“You knew,” he said to me.
“I suspected.”
“How long?”
“Before the funeral.”
“And you watched me protect her.”
“Yes.”
“You could have told me.”
“You could have told me about the affair.”
He placed the report on the table.
“I loved her.”
Naomi asked, “Did you?”
He glared at her.
I answered instead.
“He loved what she reflected back to him.”
Adrian looked at me.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“She made you feel admired without asking whether you deserved admiration.”
“You never admired me.”
“I respected the man I married. You wanted worship for the person you became.”
His anger faded into exhaustion.
“Bennett did this to humiliate me.”
“No. Bennett did it because he wanted what you had and believed there would be no consequences.”
“Exactly like you.”
The accusation did not land.
I had spent years reacting to Adrian’s version of me. During the divorce process, I began separating his descriptions from my identity.
He called boundaries cruelty.
He called independence rejection.
He called evidence humiliation.
The words no longer controlled the meaning.
Delilah later admitted she was uncertain about paternity before the funeral. She chose to announce the child as Adrian’s because she believed his expected position at the firm offered more security than Bennett’s trust distributions.
Bennett claimed she manipulated him.
She claimed both brothers used her.
Each statement contained pieces of truth.
The child, however, had done nothing wrong.
That became the one point on which I refused to chapter icipate in public cruelty.
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When reporters asked whether I felt satisfaction that the baby belonged to Bennett, I said, “A child should not be treated as the punch line to adults’ dishonesty.”
That sentence ended most interviews.
